Education For Citizenship

The Irish Institute at Boston College is pleased to have hosted the Education for Citizenship Program, which took place in Boston, Massachusetts, and Montgomery and Birmingham, Alabama, January 17 - 27, 2006.  Bringing together thirteen education policymakers, school principals, teachers, academics and others involved in efforts to promote young people’s civic engagement, seven from Ireland and six from Northern Ireland, this ten-day exchange program examined how their U.S. counterparts foster responsible citizenship, encourage youth leadership, and better incorporate civics into education curricula. 

The Education for Citizenship Program featured academic seminars with education policymakers, educators, students, and nonprofits promoting civil society in the U.S, and included meetings in Boston with Sheldon Berman, Superintendent, Hudson Public Schools; Marc Skvirsky, Vice President, and Marty Sleeper, Associate Director, Facing History and Ourselves; Nicole Bahnam, Headmaster, Boston Community Leadership Academy (BCLA); Professor Irwin Blumer, Boston College; Javier Benavides, the National Outreach Coordinator of the Change Initiative, Oxfam America; Patrice Keegan, Executive Director, Boston Cares; the staff of Citizen Schools; Professor Irwin Blumer, Boston College; Professor David J. McMenamin, Director, PULSE Program, Boston College; and Professor Marc Landy, Boston College, among others.

The group had the opportunity to visit a number of different organizations involved in citizenship education, including meetings with Pat Boland, Director of the Southern Poverty Law Center; Wade Black, Associate Director of the Alabama Center for Law and Civic Education; Ahmad Ward, Director of Education, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute; Dr. Ed LaMonte, former Assistant to the Mayor, Birmingham; Dr. Chriss Doss, Director (retired), Center for the Study of Law & the Church; and Mike Looney, Superintendent of Butler County Schools, among others.

For media coverage of the Education for Citizenship Program, please click here.